Submit your turns._________________"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner

Last edited by [Syl] on Mon Aug 18, 2008 7:43 pm; edited 3 times in total

Two weeks after signs appeared on many trees around Gont and the surrounding woods...

Hmm, not a bad turnout. Maybe there's hope for Hell after all. <internal chuckle> Of course, some number will be spies. Why some choose to reject Love is beyond me. Why some insist that others go without Love... *sigh* Not that it really matters. I'll say these things to anyone who asks. Perhaps their hearts will change when Love shines on them. Anyway, let's get things started!

Friends! Welcome! And thank you for coming! I am very encouraged by your presence. For those of you I have not yet met, I am Alek, the one who arranged this gathering. As the signs and my companions said, I want to talk about Love. LOVE!

When I lived, it was on a planet named Eiran. I was a follower of Bhakti, Eiran's God of Love and Forests. He was a divine being, with a direct link to reality's pure power: Love. Having such an intimate understanding of Love, he was in a position to teach us much. I was fortunate enough to have learned much from Bhakti. Usually through his Prophet, but often directly.

My friends, Love is what we are made of. Love is the fundamental building block of all reality. Love is the Core of each of us. The question we must all ask ourselves - whether alive, dead, or in any other state of being - is this:

Do I want to be in tune with my Core, or opposed to it?

When we ask it like that, the question is preposterous, isn't it? Trying to exist opposed to your fundamental Self sounds like an exercise in futility. A Tree can't decide to live without Wood, can it? But, some attempt that very thing. Why?? If our core was Hate, I could understand. It would probably still be impossible, in the long run, but I would applaud the effort. But since our Core is Love... *shakes head*

So why do some choose this self-contradictory, ultimately futile path? Well, when we're alive, our circumstances may make it difficult, even impossible, to feel our Loving Soul. Sometimes we do nothing but struggle - even fight! - to survive. How can we feel and find the Love amidst all that? Everybody wasn't as lucky as me. You didn't all have actual conversations with a God of Love, eh?

And what about now? Surely, Stovakor - or Hell, Hades, or whatever you call it - is proof that we are not made of, and for, Love. But I'll tell you the greatest truth of Hell. We made it! It is not a place that simply existed, that we happen to come to when we die. Nor was it made by any being of power as a place to keep us. No. We made it ourselves. Each one of us. Those of us who felt too guilty to deserve a Loving afterlife. Yes, even I, taught by Bhakti himself, couldn't let go of guilt enough to avoid Stovakor. Perhaps I hadn't learned my lessons well enough. Perhaps Bhakti hadn't had the chance to teach them all to me before things went bad on Eiran.

However...

I learned enough. Enough that I was able to continue my education on my own. All I needed was time. And one of the things we truly do have in this place is time. Oh, do we have time!! *scattered laughter* Yes, we have as much time as we choose to have. And I have had time enough to learn many things. Time to see things as they truly are. Time to understand. You may be surprised, as I was, to learn that Love is actually easier here - in Hell! - than it was while we lived! Sounds strange. Heh. "Strange"? Sounds impossible!! But we'll get to that in the days to come.

I could, in fact, leave Stovakor any time I want. Yes, I could walk out of Hell right this moment. But if I did, I couldn't help any of you. I choose to stay and help those of you who did not have the good fortune I had. Of course, you may be thinking that you have no reason to believe anything I'm saying. But if you stay with me, you will see that neither Hell, nor anybody or anything in it, has any power whatsoever over me. That's what makes my decision to stay so easy. It's simply no bother. And as I teach you, it will have no power over you.

And you will see that I have no ulterior motives. I am not raising an army. I am not gathering worshipers. I will never ask any of you for anything. If you choose to help me spread the word and knowledge of Love, we will all be blessed.

Last edited by Alek on Wed Aug 13, 2008 4:15 pm; edited 1 time in total

Perched unmoving on the stone parapet, Iblis, cast down for his despair, gazed over the new realm, thoughts racing in mirror image of the lightning appearing now in the dark and unquiet sky. A new world. A world to watch over from this tower.

Even as the thought arose the perspective grew…stretching out further than a moment before. And glancing down, saw the tower rising as though the very thought had commanded stone. 200 feet more it grew, and Iblis knew that he surveyed now the full extent of his domain here.

And at the furthest limit of his vision, racing along the horizon a wall the likes of which had never been seen…growing out of the glassy cinders and thundering toward itself in a great circle that enclosed his holdings. The wall converged on itself directly in front of his eyes, piling up into a dread portal still barred by the fused rock, but which would, he knew, open on command.

Stepping from the parapet, land suddenly fluid beneath him, Iblis stood in an instant on the wall above the gate. Behind him, felt the Circle, impaled by the tower, hold its breath as he stared over the twisted lands before his gate…as his will quested toward the furthest reaches of this reality…carrying the taste of what might be hope. Hope from the despair of Iblis._________________Now because You have led me astray, I shall surely sit in ambush for them on Your straight path.

listless, there is something
to this all
something to separate a thing from
nothing
and this is the first impulse and a guiding sense
but sensing little more than stillness
or vapor clinging NOW only daring to sense forward because where there was is not the way to move if moving is an option

Niggle had no idea why she felt such a fundamental craving, but it consumed her. She needed something.

Yet had no idea what it was.

She had journeyed from The Parish on foot for days. Occasionally she spotted “sculpted” landscapes among the flux of the chaos around her. Of other beings she saw no sign. Always she stuck to the path of chaos, wanting to find Truth, not manipulation of another’s Will. Hoping when she had no choice but to enter a region with a semblance of sense that it was because it was true and not that of a stronger will than her own.

After five days on foot, she found herself on the edge of a forest. Her path of chaos diminished as she approached, and the forest spread beyond her vision in both directions. She either accepted this landscape, or turned around the way she had come. Looking up, she noticed that even the swirling miasma that had been her “sky” since arriving in The Parish was forced into a semblance of “nature.”

That decided it. She was not yet ready to immerse herself in this forest; but the absence of the swirling, noxious miasma above called to her. Stretching her shoulders, she spread her wings, and for the first time ever…flew._________________Who knows where madness lies?
To surrender Dreams, this may be madness, to seek treasure where there is only trash?
Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all is to see life as it is, and not how it should be! ~ Cervantes

Walking through the wasteland of brown and red and gray, Metatron scanned the horizon. His hair whipped around his face from the hot, dusty wind. Deciding on which way to go, the choices were endless. He surveyed a never-ending landscape. Hell had been well-made indeed. Like heaven, hell was eternal in every way. At once dry and windy and hot as a desert, pits of fire and terror belching through the ground and then turning to a dark, cold, and desolate field that looked like it had been a battleground. He had seen structures that he knew were mazes - places of torture from which souls could never escape. Oh, the horror of those places! He had avoided those, knowing full well the pain he would witness. He had moved through hell and yet every soul he had met shrieked in horror as he neared them, fearing him or hating him.

He kneeled down to mediate for a moment, letting his wings wrap around him as if for protection from the elements. Briefly, dead and evil spirits surrounded him, mocking his efforts, attempting to gain entry into his thoughts and bombard his mind with threats. His focus was pure and could not be distracted.

When he finished, he stood and surveyed the landscape again. The demons had left and something waving in the wind caught his attention. As he moved closer, he saw a piece of paper attached to a tree.

Reading the words written, Metatron smiled and followed the directions on the paper. Toward the forest....._________________Put your hand under my thigh. This is the righteous one. The mystery is that the world exists on these three: grace, judgment and mercy. He is appointed from the mystery above to resurrect those who sleep in the grave. He will come with the will from the one who is above to bring back the breath and the soul to the proper place.